Stenhouse Publishers: Newslinks March 23, 2007

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Stenhouse Newslinks
March 23, 2007

C O N T E N T S

1) Using mentor texts to model writing in K-6
2) PD Corner: Working with parents and families
3) The highs and lows of teaching middle school
4) Cheryl Dozier on responsive literacy coaching
5) Stenhouse authors online and on the road

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1) Using mentor texts to model writing in K-6
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Mentor texts serve to show, not just tell, students how to write
well. They help students learn how to read like writers and become
more independent as they notice what skilled authors do and try it
out in their own writing.

In their new book Mentor Texts, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli
draw on their experiences as writing teachers and lovers of
children's literature to help teachers cultivate confident,
accomplished writers.

Organized around the key writing traits, Mentor Texts shows you
how to choose and introduce mentor texts, share and model with
your own writing, and go beyond mini-lessons when necessary to
help students fully develop writing techniques with "Your Turn"
lessons provided at the end of each chapter. The book also
features a comprehensive list of children's books organized around
the key traits.

Mentor Texts is available now, and you can browse the entire text
online!

Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6
Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli
326 pp/paper * $22.50 * Available now
http://www.stenhouse.com/0433.asp?r=n108

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2) PD Corner: Working with parents and families
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"Together a community can do a whole lot more than any one school
ever can."
--Carole Davis and Alice Yang, from their book Parents and
Teachers Working Together

We've all heard it takes a village, but how many of us struggle
with bringing that village into our schools? The National School
Board Association offers an annotated list of resources for
increasing community involvement:

http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/ComRes.cfm

Edutopia's Community Partnerships page has a collection of
articles and videos that highlight successful K-12 programs from
across the country:

http://www.edutopia.org/php/keyword.php?id=189

"Working with Families of Different Cultures" (Chapter 1 of the
book Parents and Teachers Working Together) reminds us that in
order to teach we must know our students, and provides a list of
practical strategies for dealing with multicultural families:

http://www.stenhouse.com/8915.asp?r=n108

All of us have had our share of in-your-face encounters with
parents. The challenge for both teachers and administrators is
staying focused and creating cooperative environments. Suzanne
Tingley provides some common-sense guidelines in her article
"Working With Difficult Parents" (1st link below) and injects some
humor as she classifies the toughest parents ("The Intimidator,"
"Pinocchio's Mom") while giving practical tips for handling them
(2nd link):

http://www.stenhouse.com/rdtingley1.htm
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdtingley2.htm

And follow this link to browse parent involvement books and videos
from Stenhouse:

http://www.stenhouse.com/rdparent.htm

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3) The highs and lows of teaching middle school
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"Middle school is like Scotch. At first you try to get it down.
Then you get used to it. Then it's all you order."
--JoAnn Rintel Abreu, Seth Low Intermediate School, Brooklyn, NY

"The Critical Years," an ongoing series in the New York Times,
explores the question of how middle school should be taught. The
first article examines the problems middle schools face and
alternative approaches being tried; the second looks at the pros
and cons of K-8 schools; and the third considers the challenges of
being a middle school teacher. Follow this link to access the
series:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/
(Scroll down to "The Critical Years" under Multimedia in the
middle column and click on the "Related Article," "Part 1," and
"Part 2" links; free registration required.)

Any educator at the middle level will find the website MiddleWeb
to be indispensable. Its copious content includes links to
diaries, blogs, and listservs, hundreds of online resources
(including a special section for new middle grades teachers), and
the free biweekly e-newsletter "Of Particular Interest":

http://www.middleweb.com

Rick Wormeli's books Meet Me in the Middle and Day One and Beyond
are essential survival guides, offering both veteran and new
teachers an engaging and practical tour of middle-level topics:
differentiating instruction, teaming, motivating students,
discipline, homework, and more. Follow this link for details and
to read sample chapters:

http://www.stenhouse.com/rdwormeli.htm

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4) Cheryl Dozier on responsive literacy coaching
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"In many schools, teachers are being asked to engage in
instruction that is prescriptive. Teaching is complex and cannot
be simply reduced to scripts. I've heard from readers that the
book has sparked renewed interest in and support of their
professionalism."

Read more from Cheryl Dozier's recent interview with EdNews on her
new book Responsive Literacy Coaching:

http://www.stenhouse.com/rddozieren.htm

And browse the entire text of Responsive Literacy Coaching here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/0463.asp?r=n108

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5) Stenhouse authors online and on the road
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***Debbie Diller is hosting a summer institute on literacy work
stations and small group instruction in Houston on July 13 (for
3rd-6th grade teachers) and July 14 (for K-2nd grade teachers).
Get details and also explore Debbie's new website here:
http://www.debbiediller.com/index.cfm?ThisPage=whatsnew#new3

***Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn recently interviewed another
Stenhouse author--Jeff Anderson--at the Dublin (Ohio) Literacy
Conference. Read it on their blog:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdsibhahn.htm

***Stephanie Harvey's 6th annual K-8 reading comprehension
institute, "Reading Is Thinking," will take place June 26-27 in
Arlington Heights, Illinois and July 24-25 in Seattle:
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/RITChicagoFlyer07.pdf
http://www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/RITSeattleFlyer07.pdf

***Check out Monica Edinger's new blog "about teaching,
literature, history, Africa (especially Sierra Leone where I was a
Peace Corps Volunteer), and other sundry topics." A recent post
describes her fourth graders writing historical fiction:
http://medinger.wordpress.com/

***Janet Allen's Reading for Life Nonfiction Reading and Writing
Institute will be held at four locations this summer: Bradenton,
FL; Nashville, TN; Las Vegas, NV; and Concord, NH. Details and
dates can be found at Janet's website:
http://www.janetallen.org

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